Parish Strategic Plan
In the spring of 2005 Father Bill formed the Strategic Planning Committee with the
idea they should study our past and present to try to determine how to position the
Parish for the future. The committee was setup as a separate group independent
of other Parish committee’s and chartered with taking as much time as needed to
complete their task. The committee was made up of a balance between the 2
Churches, staff members and an outsider to study this issue. We met for 1 1/2
hours twice a month for one and half years, held 4 listening sessions and only then
did we begin to put together our recommendations. We then presented them to the
Bishop in a face to face meeting and waited for his guidance.
Before I get to ours and the Bishop’s decisions please allow me to give you some
highlights of the process.
We divided the Parish into 4 areas and defined our current state.
Finances: Our Parish reflects the ability to meet current operating expenses
within current economic environment. Our Parish lacks the ability to significantly
reduce long term debt from current income.
Facilities: Our Parish is endowed with serviceable single purpose buildings,
most of which are in need of some repair. These buildings are also unique, art-
filled and historical, yet currently are underutilized. The cost of maintaining our
Parish buildings is substantially greater than the income we generate for that
purpose.
Demographics: Our Parish is the third largest in the city with a registered
membership of 949 Households and 2594 members. About 20% of our members
are active in Parish service and ministries. We have 363 school age members,
60% of whom are enrolled in either our Parish religious education programs or in
area Catholic Schools.
Activities and Ministries: Activities and ministries of our Parish foster
community and cohesiveness, provide education, needed services, promote social
activities and raise money, all within the framework of doing God's work. However
there is a need for increased involvement from parishioners as many key people
are either over-committed or elderly.
Listening session’s results
Our Parish is willing to make the necessary sacrifices to ensure that our Parish
survives.
At this point we arrived at a core set of beliefs that we used to guide us for
the rest of the process.
We have a responsibility to our past, that compels us to ensure our future.
We believe we will have an extremely bright future.
We are blessed with a Parish rich in history and facilities.
We have been strengthened for having gone through a challenging
consolidation.
As society changes so do the challenges our Parish faces and we must be
prepared to meet those challenges.
We can not survive as a Parish without keeping both Churches.
After all of this time, study and hearing from you, we arrived at the following
decisions:
Complete the approved heating plant redo at St. Patrick's. (done)
Rent one of our rectories. (done)
Rent, lease or sell the Sacred Heart school building.(CASE to assume all
financial responsibilities; we still own.)
Begin the process of renting, long-term leasing or selling the Parish Center
because we have outgrown the space.
As part of moving from the Parish Center seek approval to keep the first
$172,000 so as to retain the monies raised by the Parish for the redo. (approved)
Begin the process of updating the Saint Patrick's school to be used as parish
center, classroom's, social center and rental space.
After much prayerful consideration, we submitted our recommendations to the
Bishop. He spent several months reflecting on our thoughts and got back to us this
past fall. As you will see both campuses are fully utilized by Catholic institutions.
We have waited until after the holidays to present them to you the members of
Sacred Heart/Saint Pats. We have begun to implement some the easier ones and
as time passes all will be finalized.
The past several years have been good to our Parish. The scares of the past
have begun to heal. The financial position of the Parish has shown tremendous
improvement and we have experienced wonderful growth in membership. We are
blessed to have Father Bill as our Pastor and his thoughtful leadership.
I know I speak for the members of the committee when I say this has been a
wonderful experience but we are glad it is finished. If you have any questions or
concerns, please feel free to give me a call.
May the Lord continue to shine his light on all of us.
Dick Feller
Chair, Strategic Planning Committee